CLIENTS: This morning, Friday, April 25, I fished with a crew of four – all first time guests. These four men had both a work connection and a spiritual connection. They all work at a Round Rock-based manufacturer of flea and tick preventative products for pets (Wondercide), and they are all part of a Christian men’s group called The King’s Men led by Tim Beaird.
Tim organized this trip and invited along Jose Navarrete, CJ Skinner, and Phil Lewis.
DATE: Friday, 25 April 2025 (AM)
NEXT OPEN DATE FOR FISHING: 12 June (AM)
NEXT OPEN DATES FOR SONAR TRAINING: 21 June (AM)
PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Phil Lewis, CJ Skinner, Jose Navarrete, and Tim Beaird with a representative sample of the mixed bag of species they landed using live shad on Lake Belton this morning.
PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Phil Lewis, CJ Skinner, Jose Navarrete, and Tim Beaird with a few of the better white bass that went for the large shad they were offered.
PHOTO CAPTION: The King’s Men logo representing that there is one King that stands above all kings; His name is Jesus.
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:
Storms moved in from the west around 4:30 PM yesterday, dropping about an inch of rain area wide . This led to a very thin fog this morning and, combined with the gray cloud cover, made for fairly dim morning right on through our quitting time around 11:30 AM. Fishing was very straightforward this morning. We caught our first 54 fish at a single location in an area impacted overnight by winds. Those winds brought spawning shad to the area, and the fish we caught were holding just offshore still feeding on these shad as they came back off the bank once the skies brightened.
A nice mixed bag of fish was landed here, including largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, hybrid stripers, white bass, and blue catfish.
100% of our fish today were caught on live shad , using tight lines fished straight down in rod holders.
After the bite dried up in this fairly shallow, roughly 20-foot deep water, we moved out deeper to around 36′ and found another group of fish. This area produced a final 24 fish, including a mix of white bass, hybrid, striped bass, and blue cat.
We finished up with exactly 78 fish landed. The potential was certainly there for a higher catch, but none of these fellows had fished this way before, so there was a learning curve to get through mainly involving timing of the hookset just right to correspond with the fish pulling downward enough & long enough to keep the rod tip loaded.
RESULTS: 78 fish, all caught and released
OBSERVATIONS:
- Threadfin shad spawn continues.
- No helpful bird activity.
- Live bait had a distinctive edge over artificials today.
LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:
This is the most up-to-date water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 6:40AM on Thursday, 24 April
This was the previous water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 6:55AM on Tuesday, 15 April…
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 7:20A
End Time: 11:35A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 67F
Elevation: 3.20′ low
Water Surface Temp: 71.7F on the surface.
Wind Speed & Direction: SE5-8 through 10:50, then quickly tapering to calm
Sky Condition: Moderately overcast grey skies all morning with 100% coverage
Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 7% illumination.
GT = 5
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
Area vic B0021G – 54 fish on live shad
Area vic 1012 – 24 fish on live shad
Bob Maindelle
Full-time, Professional Fishing Guide and Owner of Holding the Line Guide Service
Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide
254.368.7411 (call or text)
Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com
E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle
Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle